A Jam Packed or Jan Patek July

It all started with #7 being pulled for July’s Country Threads Dirty Dozen Challenge which for me was to finish making a Fat Quarter Mixer quilt which I had already cut the patches last year from a stash of Jan Patek prints which I was saving for several years. Somehow I ended up finishing five projects with my much loved Jan Patek (JP) stash and/or UFOs. (I would like to mention for the ease of writing this Post, I’m typing JP fabrics even though some of the fabrics were designed with Linda Brannock up until 2016). I’ve  been collecting JP fabrics since I started quilting over twenty-five years ago and have accumulated a bit of a stash which I still dearly love, Thank You working in a quilt shop days. I’ve now made 17 quilts with JP fabrics and also have quite a few of her books and patterns.

As mentioned earlier, my July project was to finish making a Fat Quarter Mixer quilt measuring 72”x 84” with these JP fabrics, a mixture of her earlier and recent collections. I already had cut patches to make 63 8-1/2”x 12-1/2” blocks which is smaller than the pattern which is 10-1/2”x15-1/2” blocks. My plan changed when I realized that I didn’t want or needed a quilt this size to just sit on my shelf.

Instead, I made two quilts; a 56”X72” lap quilt which is my official #7 finish for the Dirty Dozen Challenge and a 24”x72” chair runner. Both of these will be for my family room and will be perfect for Fall. FYI, this is the fourth time, I have made a Fat Quarter Mixer quilt which I find perfect for the traditional and modern fabrics I have in my stash. I still have four bundles waiting to be made with this pattern. It is a free pattern available from Material Girl Quilts and you can easily modify the block size.

The lap quilt was machine quilt with vertical straight and wavy lines using a Star Thread in Gold. The gold print was found  in the backing vault and I was lucky to also find there the red and tan ticking stripe used for the binding.

The chair runner was machine quilted with straight lines spaced 1” apart using Star Thread in Mother Goose. The same backing and binding used in the lap quilt was also used for the chair runner which makes sense since they are a set. I like to mention that I love how the machine quilting looks with Star Thread which I think is a 30 wt (not an affiliate link) and sadly I can’t seem to find any more colors.

After finishing the first two JP projects, I was tidying up a shelf and found two more JP projects, one forgotten and one on my Dirty Dozen Project List for several years; can you guess which is which?

The chair runner, on the left, measuring 24”x48” was made with leftover patches from the Pinwheel quilt made in 2007. The chair runner was a flimsy made well over ten years ago and I had forgotten making. This happens when it was neatly folded under a piece of JP fabric which has been sitting in a basket for awhile. Since I was putting away my JP fabrics I thought it was time to put away this piece of fabric and voila’, there was the flimsy. I thought it would be nice to finally finish it, so the JP fabric, which was sitting on top of it, was used for the backing and the red and tan ticking stripe was used for the binding. I machine quilted horizontal straight and wavy lines using Star Thread Mother Goose. This chair runner will be for the GP House. I have to mention there was a time when I remembered all of Jan Patek fabric lines and now I only can name a few. The red border print for both of these quilts were from Linda Brannock and  her Porch Swing fabric line and I remember buying a fat quarter bundle. A funny side story is I was hemming and hawing about buying it, so I called Good Quilt Friend Carol to talk me out of buying it and her response was I already bought it so then I had to buy the fat quarter bundle too. There is no guilt in buying fabric when a good friend also buys the same fabric with you.

The Telly Star wall hanging was finally finished after I found the block made two years ago when Mary Etherington’s dog Telly passed away in May, 2024. I’ve met this sweet girl several times and thought I make this remembrance of her. The dog was appliqued on a black Buggy Barn block which was sewn wrong. If you’re wondering why this would be considered Jan Patek, the dog is her pattern. I did use several Sandy Gervais prints for the border which I thought would be okay since back in my favorite days of Moda fabrics which were in the late 90’s and early 2000’s (the same time frame as my working in a quilt shop). Sandy Gervais was Moda’s oldest designer and Jan Patek was the second oldest. I’m talking being a Moda designer and not their age now. Also, another side note, is Jan Patek and Mary Etherington are friends and Jan gave Mary the goat who may have been the father  of Susannah, the famous Country Threads goat.

My fifth and last JP project was a surprise UFO and the largest finish of the year so far; I’ve named it the Black Bear Patchwork Blanket which you will read later why this name was chosen. Two years ago, I started making rail fence blocks which ended up 15”x18” (finished)  and I made 36 of them in my favorite color combination of Red, Beige, Black and Sage, the official colors of the GP House. This was on my UFO project list and should have finished it in June but a different project was chosen. My original plan was to make a king size quilt measuring 108”x90” for the GP House and I would QAYG like my Gypsy King quilt. As much as I love quilts on the bed, to me, they are not warm and snuggly like what I call Patchwork Throws when there’s no batting in between and the backing is a plush fabric. I decided a patchwork blanket is what I wanted so the 36 blocks were laid out and sewn together. I was prepared to spend $60-70 for the plush backing but could not find anything I liked; I wanted either red or black. I then had an idea to purchase a $25 king size Toasty Warm Blanket in black from Walmart who used to carry my favorite David Textile chenille plush. The blanket was chenille-like with the lines running horizontal like the rail blocks. I was nervous about doing this since the blanket was supposed to be the same size as the flimsy and centering is a challenge for me.  It turned out to be 2” skinnier because it was hemmed and since this was a blanket and may be covered by the quilt already on the bed, I was prepared to trim the sides of the flimsy after the machine quilting. It was good that the blanket was longer so the corners, which were bulky, were able to be trimmed. Otherwise the hemming on the sides were not bulky and easy to sew the binding over. I did cut my binding strips 3” and used a red JP print which I had yardage in my stash. 

The Black Bear Patchwork Blanket was hung outside the screen room. I am really pleased with how it turned out and I would do this again. I did have some trepidation doing this and I really thought it would not be finished until the 31st but it turned out it was a finish on the 29th. I machine quilted vertical straight lines along each side of the 6” rail blocks with a gold polyester thread. My original plan was to use a black polyester thread but it did not sew well. I’m glad I switched to the gold and wasn’t concerned with how it would look against the black plush.

And here’s the Master Quilter Holder, who would not stand like Vanna White, showing off the beautiful black plush backing. The reason I named it Black Bear because it’s a big blanket, soft and heavy and I called it that after carrying it back and forth from the table to the sewing machine several times. And there was some wrestling or maneuvering during the machine quilting and was glad to have survived. The machine quilting took only around four hours but the pin basting took an entire afternoon and some evening hours. I am looking forward to sleeping under it this Winter, definitely not now with all of the hot weather we’re having.

I still have several JP projects to be made but I think I need to take a break now. I did take some JP scraps to the GP House to make some placemats so they may be made in August when the darling Granddaughter will be babysitting us for a week.

Besides my five JP finishes, I have another finish which was my first one made in July. I needed a Summer door hanging for the GP House and had bundled some Ruby Star Society prints last year.  This door hanging measures 30”x48” and I’ve named it True Concessions because of all of the fun and yummy prints.

True Concessions and the Washi Tape Salute wall hanging finished in March are now hanging in the niche in the dining room at the GP House where the darling Granddaughter spends mucho time watching videos and coloring. I am liking that many of the quilts  this year are being hung or used and not sitting on a shelf.

With six finishes for July, I am ready to call it a month. But, I am enjoying the last day planning my next quilt which will be, I can’t believe I’m typing this during another heat wave,  this year’s darling Granddaughter’s Christmas/Winter Patchwork Blanket. Yes, I ordered more Toasty Warm Blankets, one gray and one pink, and yes, both are for  her. But then, another Fat Quarter Mixer quilt might distract me as well as the new number pulled for August’s Dirty Dozen Challenge.

June-balaya

There was a lot of mish-mash  and jumbling of activities involving celebrations, Mother Nature paying a visit to our house, health appointments for myself, a family wedding and, of course, a whole lot of quilting that I thought June-balaya would be a good name for this Post.

June always involves the celebration of two birthdays, Demando’s and myself and it just warms my heart that we’re both the same age now (wink). And not to be forgotten, are Hubby and my youngest son celebrating Father’s Day. During the first two weeks in June, we experienced heavy storms and tornado warnings and the first of two storms which happened two days straight, we lost our 34 year-old Linden tree which had graced our parkway. So far this year, Illinois had 172 tornadoes and now leads the nation which makes me uncomfortable. As for my health, I had my annual vision exam, a bone density scan and a mammogram and thankfully all went well. To top off my had-to-do list, was renewing my driver’s license, which after my new photo was taken, the very nice security guard walked with me to the exit door when I told him a major crime had just been committed. I’ve been saying that mucho money can be made by charging an extra fee for a glamour or soft focus photo. But no...I have a photo of me looking like an old man.

We traveled to Wisconsin for the wedding of our grandniece who had her ceremony at a farm venue right across the road from her Grandmother’s (Hubby’s sister) house. Less than 24 hours before the ceremony I realized that I had  over fifty leftover signature blocks from my younger son’s wedding thirteen years ago and I contacted my niece (the Bride's mother) to ask her if I could make a wedding quilt with them. She said yes, so  during the two-hour drive, I altered the paper holding the signature blocks. The funny thing about doing this was, the Bride, was the one who handed out these signature papers during the wedding and reception at her cousin’s wedding. I jokingly asked her if she would have time to re-assume this duty but she was a little preoccupied so her future sister-in-law and my hubby did a great job passing and collecting them. Once the newlyweds are finished building their future home, we will decide  on whether a large quilt or smaller wallhangings will be made.

And finally, to the quilty portion of this Post. I had two quilts to finish and  a Post to write on June 15th for the Lyra QAL hosted by Sandra, mmm Quilts and another Post revealing my Secret Sewing project from last year which was my quilt made from Kelly Young’s 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler Book released on June 16th. By then, I was ready to call it a month but then there were two weeks still remaining.

I thought I should finish my #11 of Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge which was the flimsy I made in 2024 after I had finished my Spectacle Square-tangle Quilt. For both of these quilts, I used the Easy Bricks pattern designed by Amy Smart, Diary of a Quilter which is a great pattern for a layer cake.

I enjoyed making the Spectacle Square-tangle quilt so much that I wanted to make the pattern again using a Whisper by Windham Fabrics layer cake which I had in my stash for several years along with other fabrics which went well with it. I had plans to make a queen size quilt but decided to make a 66”x88” flimsy instead. Unfortunately, straight-line machine quilting did not go as smooth as I wanted and I ended up having to rip out eight lines of machine quilting because I didn’t realize the backing was scrunching up. This has sworn me off of making large quilts for awhile but at least I was able to use my CT Essential Thread in Blush. I do like this quilt which I’ve named Birdsong though Bird Brain came to mind. I was tempted to make a simple one-patch Patchwork Throw with all of the leftover fabrics remaining because I may need a new one for traveling this September and I found the perfect plush in my stash, but I didn’t.

Instead, I decided to finally finish the quilting for my Peace Quilt which I started two month earlier. I made this 16” x 26” flimsy twenty years ago before going back to work full-time. During this time, I was making these small quilts which I call Patchbox quilts because I was making them with large squares of novelty prints. The Peace hands were fussy cut and then fused to two different black prints. My plan was to hand quilt this but after the Peace hands were  done I decided to machine-quilt the rest. It has laid on my table in front of my sewing machine when I finally realized that all I had to do was straight line quilting, grid style using a jewel tone variegated Star Thread. While machine quilting, I had another realization that this quilt needed to be finished, because……

I needed another quilt to hang on the front hallway door next to the gaMMMa galaxy quilt because the one I had hanging next to it did not complement it as much as the Peace quilt. I wonder if Eunice, my Studio Tormentor who lives inside my head and tells me what I should be finishing was guiding me. This time, it was most welcomed. Both of these quilts one days will be heading to the darling granddaugher’s bedroom at the GP House. I plan to hang the Peace Quilt outside her door as a reminder that her father when he was only in first or second grade, hung a handmade sign outside his bedroom door with a drawn peace sign and the printed words “Peace in Mike’s Room”. Hubby and I both thought what could have prompted him at such a young age to do this and realized he didn’t like our yelling at Demando to do his homework among other things.

There were still a few days left before leaving for the GP House for the weekend and thought the Rainbow House Flimsy would be a quick finish. While looking for background info on the Birdsong quilt, I saw that this flimsy was made in 2024 also and that it would be good to finally finish two 2024 flimsies.

The only problem I had was  I wanted to use the stripe backing horizontally which ran along the selvedge and would be too short for the 39”x45”flimsy by several inches. I added strips, of a polkadot print found in the scrap box, to the top and bottom. Since I already had the variegated thread still on my sewing machine, I used that to machine quilt with straight and wavy lines. The black print with teeny multi color dots was found in the stash. I’m glad the Rainbow House quilt was a finally finish because it reminded how much I love this rail pattern which uses only six fat quarters. I need to make some small quilts for the darling Granddaughter’s classroom by Fall and this would be a great pattern since it sew quick and very cute with the right fabrics which I’m sure I have in my stash. I will confess that I want to keep Rainbow House quilt because I love the prints so much but maybe will be ready to give it up by Fall.

Last but not least, all during June in the late evening while watching reruns of the Mary Tyler Moore TV Series on YouTube, I was handing piecing the Smitten Says blocks which I started planning on the last days of May. Fabric patches were cut for appoximately 500 diamonds and then basted to make 177 5”x6” hexagons. Originally I was going to use a combination of diamonds and equilateral triangles (like the Simple Smitten quilt) to make the hexagons but decided to use all diamonds instead.  All of the hexagons are now sewn and ready to be laid up on the design board. Then, the  next step is to sew the hexagons together in rows which I definitely will have to do on the big counter high kitchen table at home and, of course, watching more Mary Tyler Moore episodes which ran for seven years. The Smitten Says hexagons were supposed to be my road trip project for our upcoming September trip but I really enjoy EPPs now and was missing it after my Simple Smitten quilt was finished. I already have a new EPP project in mind for the road trip and can start cutting the fabric and paper pieces soon.

I’m thinking I should take it easy in July but July-balaya wouldn’t be a bad Post title and it’s also fun to say.  Have a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July holiday.

12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler Book Release

Today is the release of Kelly Young, My Quilt Infatuation, latest book 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler: Perfectly Pieced Holiday Design” which provides step-by-step instructions for 12 festive blocks inspired by the classic Christmas Carol. I was excited when I read her Posts last year showing her quilt, working on the pattern and the plan to do a QAL starting in July. I emailed Kelly to let her know how wonderful her quilt was  and I was planning to participate in the QAL. The darling Granddaughter loves singing the 12 Days of Christmas song all year and I knew she would love the quilt for Christmas. However, plans changed when the book publisher agreed that Kelly’s wonderful pattern should not be a stand alone pattern but a book instead. This meant that the pattern and QAL would be delayed until this year.

Kelly knowing that I wanted to make the 12 Day of Christmas quilt to give the darling Granddaughter for Christmas, kindly gave me a draft of her pattern with the condition that I would keep it a secret and not post pics of my quilt until her book was released. This was the Secret Sewing Project I was posting about last September and would be revealed in May/June.

TaDa! Here is my big reveal! When I was discussing this Post with Kelly and asking her how I should explain receiving the pattern, she suggested that I say that I was asked to be a “Pattern Tester”. I mentioned that this may be hard to believe by those who have read my Posts and there would be a possibility that Sandra/mmm quilts would be spitting out her coffee as she reads this. However, I considered myself as taking a pattern test and followed Kelly’s instructions completely. Does my Dancing Lady look like she’s doing the Can-Can?

These are the fabrics I pulled from my stash which were: Basic Grey Grunge, Vanessa Christensen’s Confetti Ombre, Zen Chic Spotted Zebra, Jennifer Sampou Chalk, Timeless Treasure Gray Grid, Figo/Libs Elliott Workshop, Robin Pickens Thatch and Leanne Andersen Houndstooth. I used two different white Grunge prints for the background: Seeing Stars for the large areas and a Basic for the smaller areas.

As with the other books and patterns by Kelly, she writes great detailed instructions and provides wonderful illustrations for the  twelve blocks. I thought I shared four of the blocks and if you know me, a fan of the big patches, I really enjoyed making all of the blocks, even though I worked on a tight schedule of twenty days. Kelly offers great tips and hints for sewing the blocks (perfection is not required but it sure does look nice--these are my words). My favorite of all, a big game changer for me, was to use diagonal seam tape (which I had an unused roll of it stashed in my drawer for several years) to sew the many connecting corners. If I had a favorite block, it would be #10 Leaping Lord whom I’ve named Jethro but Gaston would have also been a good name too.

Kelly did an amazing job on machine quilting her quilt so I’m embarrassed to show that I only machine quilted horizontal wavy lines approximately 2” apart. The reason for using Basic Grey Grunge Seeing Stars fabric for the background and embroidering many gold stars throughout the quilt was to make it look more interesting. The same dark green Grunge used for the numbers was also used for the binding.

I wished I had a video of when the darling Granddaughter first saw her 12 Days of Christmas quilt. She had such a smug smile suggesting she knew Grandmin would make her this and knowing it was just for her. Her father, my youngest son, was so excited, took many pics and was given very ample warning not to post or share any photos. The quilt hung at the GP house until early January when it was taken down when the darling Granddaughter wasn’t around and brought back to our house for safekeeping. Would you believe the darling Granddaughter started singing the 12 Days of Christmas song on April 15th. I’m pretty sure her quilt will be hung up right after Halloween. BTW, this photo collage shows the first Kelly Young pattern I made, Purse Strings quilt 2013 and the latest; both quilts, as well as several other quilts made with Kelly's patterns, were bequeathed to her.

It should be no surprise that I am a big fan and follower of Kelly and have made  sixteen quilts from nine of her patterns; six of them with her Unruly pattern, my very favorite. I have all of her books and have participated in many of her past NTT Linky parties. Her latest 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler book is an absolute gem. In addition to her patterns, there are some interesting tidbits that I never knew about the song. Even though my quilt is made, there are several blocks I would make again and would be perfect as a stand alone for wall quilt or pillows or combining several blocks to make a small wallhanging. My Grandniece just got married this weekend and I’m thinking of combining the Dancing Lady, Turtle Doves and Leaping Lord blocks to make a special First Christmas wallhanging. Also, there is a bonus Father Christmas pillow pattern which I definitely will be making. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Kelly's Post. Her book is available now at her Etsy Shop as well as Amazon and any other distributors where you purchase your books (not an affiliate link).

And lastly, a very big Thank You to Kelly for trusting and allowing me to make my quilt last year, it was very appreciated and much loved.  I hope readers will see that I can follow a quilt pattern and keep a secret.

Folklore Prairie Rambling Rows & Bars Quilt

Just fifteen days into the New Year, I have my first DrEAMi project completed. As the DrEAMi name implies, this was not in my plans to make in 2025 but just happened to be made for several reasons

The darling Granddaughter’s father (aka, my youngest son who made a sad mistake of only gifting me a $20 gift certificate at the local gift shop for my birthday in which I suggested adding another zero next time) gave me this past Christmas a $100 gift card. I purchased a Villa Rosa Designs Tiffany pattern card perfect for 2.5” strips. I mentioned to Mary Etherington that this pattern reminded me of her Rambling Rows pattern of which I have made several versions of this pattern. It is one of my favorite patterns for 2.5” strips.

With the Tiffany pattern in mind and thinking what fabrics I could use to make this quilt,  I thought of a small jelly roll (23 strips) and a small layer cake (24 10” squares) of fabrics both designed by Moda’s Fancy That Design studio. I had received these fabrics in several Fat Quarter Shop Sampler Box and have sat in my stash for several years. I thought I would subcut the 10” squares into four 2.5” strips but decided to just cut them into two 5”x10” bars (rectangles) since some of them were larger prints. It was then I decided to make a version of the Rambling Rows quilt which I’m calling Rambling Rows and Bars. I should mention I was in the process of sewing a backing for my #12 of the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. 

There are only two types of blocks; one made with four 2.5” strips and the other made with two 5x10” bars. Although they are slightly different height sizes, you can use them together provided they are not on the same row which is what I learned from making so many runners/wall hangings with the Villa Rosa Clover pattern. I had just enough fabric to make 24 blocks each of the two block types when I added one additional 2.5” strip. I thought these two fabric lines would work well with each other since of the colors, brown, gold, blues and coral were in both fabric lines.

Once the blocks were made, finishing it was quick. I machine quilted straight horizontal lines using Star Mother Goose Thread. I found a gold and green ticking stripe in the backing vault which I had for years and glad to finally use it. Since I didn’t have any fabric from the two fabric lines for the binding, I used a brown mini check which I think went well with the fabrics. The Folklore Prairie Rambling Rows & Bar quilt measures 58” x 68”.

Here’s a pic of the fabric remains. I don’t think I ever made a quilt using all of the fabrics since I like to sew with the intention of having scraps for another quilt. BTW, the two fabric lines in this quilt are Dawn on the Prairie and Folk & Lore so I used a combination of the two names for this quilt.

It snowed last night so no outside photos could be taken of this quilt. I just love this quilt, especially how fast it was made. I’m thinking the Rambling Rows and Bar might be my pattern for the year since I already have several fabric groupings to make more. But first, I need to finish my #12  Challenge Quilt which I am hoping to machine quilt this weekend since it might be good sewing weather.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

A Sew Nice November

It was a very productive November with four Finally Finishes and one Flimsy made. Surprisingly, only one was planned and the other ones were inspired by the scraps and leftover blocks found in their respective bins. At the beginning of November, I was still under the influence of the Dear Tula #2 Scrap Vortex Quilt and kept finding more projects in the brown/tan/black scrap box. I made a wall quilt and a twin size flimsy which I would have quilted if I didn’t realized that it was the middle of the month and I had to start making a Christmas table runner needed for the living room. I like to start decorating by December 1st and it was arriving quickly in my head. It turned out that even more inspirations were found in the Christmas stash to make two additional quilts with the leftover blocks and scraps from previous projects.

The first project completed and unplanned was the Taupe Baskets wallhanging/table runner. While I was preparing the fabrics for the Dear Tula II Scrap Vortex quilt, I came upon leftovers or block remains from past projects and a fat quarter of the basket print which I don’t remember purchasing. 

I had set aside these fabrics several years ago not knowing what I was going to make with them. I knew that I did not want to cut up the basket print and thought now to use a 16”x18” cut as the main focus for a table runner. I ended up eliminating some of the lighter prints on the left and found some replacements stashed in other bins. A story for another day is I was needing one more dark print, preferably a Japanese Homespun, and remembered that had received some unexpectedly from Mary Etherington six years ago. I made my Scrappy Sixpatch Quilt from the scraps Mary had sent and still had some left. I now have much more which as I mentioned before will be a project for next year.

Here’s a close-up of the basket print which is from the Taupeism fabric line. I did do a search online to find out more about the print but nothing was found. Really, I was hoping to purchase additional prints but in the end I was happy with what I had. Initially, Taupe Baskets was going to be a table runner but is now a wallhanging in my hallway where it is hanging around the other wall quilts made with similar fabrics and colors. It measures 28” x 50” and was a quick and easy make with the meandering machine quilting.

Also found alongside the Taupe Basket fabrics were leftover blocks from the Disappearing 9 patch quilt I made for a Grandniece eleven years ago. I decided to make a number of patches needed to make 35 blocks  or a 65”x91” twin size quilt. Fortunately, most of the scraps in the brown/tan/black bin are from this quilt. I would have finished this quilt if I hadn’t realized that I needed to start on some Merry Makings.

I am pretty pleased with myself for having completed these three during the last half of November which involved a lot of non-quilting busyness. Can you guess which one was machine quilted and bound several days while the darling Granddaughter was staying at our house, a wallhanging made from a block which was at least seven years old and a table runner made from a fabric collection purchased last year?

I won’t keep you in suspense. This table runner was made with Dashwood Studio Candy Cane line along with Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics using a modified version of Villa Rose Designs Clover pattern. I mentioned in previous posts how much I love this pattern and how easy it is to modify it in order to use the fabrics you already have. The table runner measures 22”x38” and is needed for the living room which during Christmas, all the quilts were made from Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star fabrics. The only holdout was the table runner on the coffee table and last year I made plans to finally make a new one this year.

Of course, while combing through the Christmas stash, I came across the 12” Tree block made in 2017 and was designed by April Adam, Janda Bend Quilts for that year’s I Wish You a Merry Quilt Along. This was one of the few blocks I made from this quilt along and had planned to use it with some other orphan Christmas block which I never got along to sewing. Divine inspiration to make it a wall hanging finally struck and I just needed a few strips and squares from other projects to make it a 23” square. April named this block Christmas Tree Farm, which is appropriate since she owns one and I did play Taylor Swift’s Christmas Tree Farm while hand quilting. I just love how this turned out and this will be hanging up in the hallway at the GP House.

Last, but not the very least, is the Reindeer Lane made possible with a past Christmas quilt and fabric purchases.

I was surprised when I realized that this Hoot and Loot Quilt was made five years ago. My original plan to make this with only the eight patch rail blocks and the Hoot and Loot fabric but decided to add the pinwheel blocks which meant 24 rail blocks were not needed. Most of these were made from Me and My Sister Red Dot and Dash fabric line and I thought if I ordered additional yardage from their fabric line this year, Reindeer Games, I could make just a Christmas bed quilt of rail blocks for the darling Granddaughter.

Normally, I like to include a pic of all of the fabrics gathered for the making of a quilt, but in my haste to finish it before the month ends, I forgot to take one. These photos show the new Reindeer Game fabrics purchased, the red ribbon weave, green diagonal stripe, red and green plus, and the Reindeer dot. In order to make this a 56”x72” quilt, I needed to use additional fat quarters of Kate Spain’s Merry, Merry fabric line along with a Robert Kaufman Sloth Christmas print, a Basic Grey text print and some other red and green prints found in the stash. I wanted to include some plain 8” blocks with the rail blocks but decided a pieced block of two coordinating 4”x8”(f) rectangles would worked. Rather than a random layout, I thought a controlled layout with two rows of the Reindeer block, top and bottom,and one row of the rectangle blocks with the Kate Spain houses in the center would work with the fabric I had. Rather than alternate the  red and green rail blocks individually, they are set in vertical rows, creating a lane effect which is why I names this quilt Reindeer Lane. I thought it was also a nice address name for the row of houses in the Kate Spain Print.

Since the Kate Spain and Sloth prints had some gray in it, backing it with a light gray chenille plush was perfect. This is a thin plush, not so luscious, which the Pellon soy batting was used to add some weight. The flimsy was finished right before we left for the GP House to bring back the darling Granddaughter to spend Thanksgiving with us. I didn’t think I would be able to machine quilt it while she was here, but wonders happen during the night when she is sleeping. I usually don’t sew at night while at the GP House but maybe I will now. Machine quilting and binding went well, no problems, the darling Granddaughter should come to our house more often.

I thought I would close this Post with the darling Granddaughter, the Novice Quilt Holder holding up Christmas Tree Farm. It did not go well. Thanks to three photo app and along with the experience of creating graphics of Sandra, mmmquilts, I was able to photo edit this pic. Maybe I should learn AI.

I only have one project to complete in December which is to machine quilt my secret project. Once that’s done, I’m sure I can find other projects which are always popping up in the studio. Now that Thanksgiving have been enjoyed and now over, we will be traveling back with the darling Granddaughter and her father to the GP House tomorrow. Unfortunately, we will be driving after our area has been under a Winter Storm Watch and hopefully the roads will be cleared. I am so not ready for Winter weather and the only way to enjoy the cold and snow is to be inside and happily making quilts.